Memento Mori
A Selection of shorts and unrelated one shots. Mostly stuff that comes to my head, things I would like to see. Jane Centric.
Hello guys , hope you have enjoyed the holidays. This is the new update to the shorts. I have written a few more that i will be adding soon once I have edited them. Thanks for the reviews to the last chapter.
This short is just a little something about what happened in France. Enjoy and please tell me what you think.
France
Jane shivered against the cold wind that numbed her skin, looking out over the city that stretched for miles before her. She had always wanted to visit france, but she had always expected it to be with Kurt. She had dreamed of a warm feather bed, room service, champagne and a balcony overlooking the beautiful city filled with life. She knew better than to expect something so normal and luxurious. However, she did not expect to be spending her time in this beautiful city, hiding out in an abandoned warehouse with three criminals. Nor did she expect that at anytime, she would be sitting on the edge of said warehouse, feet dangling sixty foot from the ground while she attempted to hide from an extremely promiscuous french women.
Taking a deep breath of air, Jane gulped down the rest of her cheap brandy, savouring the way the rusty liquid burned all the way down from her throat to her stomach. The wind picked up, blowing her hair from her face, looking down to the empty streets below, Jane dangled the now empty bottle between two fingers, waiting only a few seconds before letting the it drop. She smiled slightly as it shattered against the floor.
"Thought i'd find you up here." A kind voice made her jump slightly, she didn't need to turn around to know who it was. She felt the warmth of Clems body as he took a seat beside her, one leg dangling from the edge of the building as the other stood firmly on the floor.
"Needed some air."
Clem chuckled, it was a throaty sound, but it warmed Jane's heart. He was the eldest of them, almost reaching fifty, with a kind weathered face, large blue eyes and a peppering of white hair along his jawline. A scar ran from his left temple to the right side of his nose, coming to a stop just beside his cleft lip.
"Did you really need some air or are you just trying to get away from a certain french lady?"
Jane brushed some hair from her face.
"She's relentless."
"Maybe it's the tattoos."
Jane smiled widely and Clem's face lit up.
"There ya go." He said, "I don't think I've seen you crack a single smile since meeting you."
Jane sighed, looking down once more to the ground below. She bit her bottom lip.
"Hard to smile when you have nothing to smile about." She said, Clem looked at her for a long while.
"There are lots of things to smile about Hummingbird." He said, using the pet name he gave her when they first met. For some reason, it made her feel warm when he called her that. She looked at him.
"Like what?"
"Well for starters, you have a beautiful lady in there by the name of Celine that wants to jump your bones and for some reason, I think she would be freaky in bed." Jane chuckled. "Then there is the beauty of the city, it might be dark and dangerous by night but by day it's the most beautiful city in the world"
Jane nodded.
"What else?" Jane asked. Clem thought for a moment, then a wide smile crossed his face.
"Puppies."
Jane waited for him to continue, when he said nothing further she frowned.
"Puppies?"
"Don't tell me you don't feel all warm and giddy inside when you see a puppy. They're like magic magnets for happiness. You can't be sad when there's puppies about."
Jane's smile grew, shaking her head at the ridiculousness of his answer. Clem was a six foot four hulking mass of muscle, His arms matched the width of Jane's thigh and his face was weathered with scars. She had seen him break a man's arm as if it were a twig, throw another man half way across a large room and had lifted a slab of concrete from her leg as if it were made of foam. He had saved her life more than once in the short month they had been together and he had been nothing but kind to her.
"Puppies are kind of great." She admitted. They laughed together. A presence in the doorway averted her attention from Clem. Once again, her smile faulted.
"What do you want Dwyer?" Clem asked, turning to his friend. The man leaned against the doorway, stuffing a burger into his mouth before speaking.
"We found out where the package is." He said, mouth still full of bread and meat. Jane made a face. She had, had a strong dislike for the man the first time they met, that dislike had only grown in the month she had spent with him and his crew.
"You mean the little girl." Jane corrected. Dwyer looked at her with an amused smile.
"Potato, tomato."
Jane's jaw clenched.
"That's not even saying goes." Jane said, not even trying to hide her annoyance.
Dwyer shrugged.
"I don't get paid to be smart. We leave in an hour. Package is being held on a boat in the harbour that's due to leave port in the morning. Heavily guarded. Half the payment has already come through from the father."
Clem nodded his head and swung his leg from over the side. He stood and headed for the door.
"Come on hummingbird, lets go shoot some bad guys."
Jane sighed and followed reluctantly. She had a bad feeling about this job.
Jane slowed her breathing as she stared down the scope of the sniper. Scanning the deck of the boat carefully, she relayed the information to her team. Five men top side, armed with automatic rifles, handgun holstered at their left side. No armour. She could tell they were simple thugs from the way they covered the area, heavily armed thugs, but inexperienced. Attaching the silencer to the barrel of her weapon, she took a deep breath, reminding herself that the people on that boat, we bad people. Still. It didn't feel right to kill them. She picked her shots carefully, the music from the radio on deck would muffle any sounds of bodies hitting the water or the floor.
She pulled the trigger once. Direct hit, clean kill. He fell backwards into the murky water below barely making a sound as his gear dragged him to the bottom of the harbour. She pulled the trigger a second time, bullet entering just above the man's left eye. He fell to the floor in a heap, she pulled the trigger a third time, killing his friend before he turned around.
"Port side safe. Move up and wait for my signal." She watched through the scope as Clem, Celine and Dwyer moved up the bridge and into the boat. They hid behind a large container.
"Clem, you have one on your 2 o-clock. Facing outwards. Take him out." She watched as Clem put the man in a sleeper hold, dragging him behind the crate he currently took cover behind. Jane scanned the deck once more.
"Dwyer, on your six."
Dwyer popped out from his cover, driving a knife into the man's throat, The smile that crossed his face sickand Jane. The man fell to the floor in a heap, blood staining his dirty yellow shirt red.
"Nice shooting Hummingbird." She heard in her earpiece, Jane climbed down from her nest and made her way towards the boat.
"That was reckless Dwyer" She whispered harshly as she joined the team. The man smiled smugly.
"It worked didn't it. Let's get the package and get out." He made his way towards the door.
"Hang on. We don't know how many men are down there." Jane put forward.
"Only one way to find out." He smiled.
"And risk killing the little girl in the crossfire."
"That's a risk that we gotta take." Before Jane could stop him, Dwyer pulled open the door and rushed down the stairs. Clem grunted in disapproval, following him with a scowl.
"I love it when you pretend to be the good guy." Celine whispered in Jane's ear, slapping her buttocks before following the men. Jane bit her lip hard, making a fist before following the team, her weapon ready in front of her.
Jane knew where the others had gone by the sound of the gunfire. Loud and echoing in such a small area. She had narrowly avoided being hit by a falling pile of boxes as she walked through the the door, think splinters of wood flying up towards her face as they hit the ground. Clem was protecting the little girl that sat in the corner, sheltering her with his massive body, Celine took cover behind some boxes and Dwyer wrestled with a particularly large man that made Clem look like a stick insect. Firing two shots towards the men that had Celine pinned,Jane rushed towards Dwyer, tackling the man he fought to the floor and promptly breaking his neck.
"I had him!" Dwyer yelled, Jane got to her feet, removing some glass from her hand. She looked towards the man.
"Didn't look like it." She ignored the look Dwyer gave her and started towards the little girl, gently touching her arm while pulling the blindfold from her eyes. The young girl looked at her fearfully.
"It's okay. We're here to take you back to your father okay?"
The little girls bottom lip trembled slightly. Jane smiled at her and held out her hand.
"Let's take you back to your dad okay."
It was early morning by the time the team made it back to the warehouse. It had been a successful mission, even if Dwyer had charged in recklessly. Jane was just happy to be moving on from France, she had spent to much time in this city, with these people. She found out the hard way no to stay in one place for too long.
"That was a fn job Lee. We gotta kill some people, save a little girl and walk away from it all twenty grand richer"
Dwyer nodded with a smile, watching as Jane moved towards cooler at the end of the room. Pulling out a beer.
"I do have something else for us. Just, one last job. One that's gonna make us very rich.10 million dollars richer to be exact"
Jane froze as she lifted the open bottle to her lips.
"10 million dollars. Are you serious!" Celine yelled in excitement, Jane surveyed her for a way out.
"That could set us up for life!" Clem added with a chuckle.
"Well, what's the job?" Celine asked, almost jumping for joy.
"She's standing right in front of us."
It went silent for a moment as Jane felt all eyes fall to on her back. She tensed.
"Yeah, seems little miss painted lady over here, pissed off some very powerful people. People that want her head served to them on a silver platter." A familiar click of a gun made her ears twitch. Janes fingers twitched by her side, reaching slowly for the knife that rested there. She could see Celine in the reflection of the dirty window. slowly approaching her from behind. A large knife held loosely in her hand.
"Is this true hummingbird?" Clem asked her, from the look on his face, Jane could see the confusion in his eyes.
Turning, Jane gave Dwyer a charming smile. Taking a large gulp of beer she watched Celine in the corner of her eye.
"Somewhat." She answered Clem, she turned her eyes to face him, still keeping a cautious eye on the frenchwoman that slowly approached her .Her hand tightened around the neck of the bottle. Dwyer took a step towards her, the gun dropping slightly as he did so.
"Before we kill you. I want to know who you pissed off so badly."
Jane shrugged.
"I pissed off a lot of people. It's hard to keep track."
Celine was closer now, the knife glinting against the morning light. Jane finished her beer in two more swigs, holding the empty glass bottle tightly in the palm of her hand.
"Think about what your about to do Dwyer. I don't want to hurt you."
"Hurt me?" He chuckled. "It's three against one."
Jane stiffened and took a deep breath, slowly in and out.
"I'm not going to warn you again Dwyer. Back. Off."
Celine dashed towards her, the knife raised above her head. In one single movement, Jane lifted the bottle and smashed it across Celine's back, pulling her own knife and slamming it hard into her shoulder. Celine screams were cut short by a quick knee to the temple. Before Dwyer could react, Jane had driven Celine's knife into his leg, falling to the floor Jane started towards Dwyer, pain erupted in her shoulder as a shot rang out. Falling to the floor as a bullet ripped through her shoulder. Jane grunted, blood seeping through her fingers. Clem appeared in her field of vision. He looked down on her, a pained expression on his face as he pointed the gun toward her head.
"I don't want to do this hummingbird"
Jane moaned as the pain in her shoulder intensified, she replied through gritted teeth. "Then don't."
Clems finger twitched on the trigger, his jaw tightening as he shifted from foot to foot.
"Shoot the bitch Clem!" Dwyer yelled, trying desperately to stop the bleeding in his leg. Clem shifted once more, looking quickly towards Dwyer then back to Jane.
"Why do you have a bounty on your head?" He asked.
"Cause I made some bad choices."
Lowering the gun, he sighed.
"What the hell are you doing!" Dwyer yelled, Jane got to her feet shakily, looking up at Clems towering figure. Holstering his gun he looked at her for a moment.
"Go."
With the her left side soaked with blood, Jane headed for the door.
"Next time we meet., it will not be as friends."
When he turned towards the door, Jane had already disappeared.
Clem sighed. He would really miss his little Hummingbird.
Hope you enjoyed guys!
Please tell me what you think of this and there will be more to come. Enjoy the rest of the year!
